PHIL 230 Study Guide - Final Guide: Hypothetical Imperative, Categorical Imperative
Document Summary
Kant built his system, more or less out of anger at hume"s method and conclusions a priori approach vs. empirical. The moral law: the fundamental moral principle that specifies what actions are morally obligatory, which are permitted, and which are forbidden. It is unclear that hume thought this existed. Moreover, hume was writing about human nature, on which he writes empirically. Kant refutes this approach, finding it parochial, identifying and writing from a priori principles instead. To kant, a moral system must be binding to all rational beings, not just humans. A rational being has a will (ak. 412) and sets its own ends (ak. 437); a being which can rationally reflect on and decide what to do. Aristotle thought that we are subject to moral evaluation and not animals because we are intrinsically different from them, and that reason was our ergon. Hume saw reason as an important aspect of human life.
